m10bob -> Para-frag bombs (3/12/2006 5:20:04 AM)
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Cpt Paul "Pappa" Gunn loaded A-20 and B 25's with generally up to 10 .50 cal MG's for low-level strafing, but his "secret weapon" was to drop entire batches of 21 pound fragmentation bombs which were slowed by small parachutes, so the delivering bombers would be out of the way when the bombs hit. The bombs would be very destructive to flight lines in particular, as 40 of them were dropped at a time, (from the A 20's, which had been up-armed with 6 of those .50cal MG's. On Sept 12th 1942, 9 of them destroyed 17 Japanese planes on the ground with the parafrags. With this success, Gen Kenney had the special racks made for the parafrags to be carried on Bristol Beauforts, and Curtis P 40's.. Later, the B 25's in his unit got 10 of the .50cal MG's., and replaced the A 20's in the parafrag missions with the 3rd Bomb Group.... (Source:Story furnished by ex-pilot Sam McGowan in WWII magazine, Ja.2004) Is this bomb replicated in WITP ? I looked through the CHS 1.06 database and could not find them. http://aupress.au.af.mil/Books/Rodman/rodman.pdf
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